The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company. It was formed in 1964 through the merger of two Dutch publishing companies De Spaarnestad and Cebema. Its original name was Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeversbedrijven, which translates into English as "United Dutch Publishing Companies", but this was shortened to VNU Group b.v. (or just VNU) in 1999. On January 18th 2007, VNU rebranded as The Nielsen Company, adopting the name of several of its units. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... A private company is a company that is independently owned. ... A leveraged buyout (or LBO, or highly-leveraged transaction (HLT), or bootstrap transaction) occurs when a financial sponsor gains control of a majority of a target companys equity through the use of borrowed money or debt. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... Coordinates: Country Netherlands Province North Holland Area (2006)  - Municipality 32. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... “Publisher” redirects here. ... Advertising is paid, one-way communication through a medium in which the sponsor is identified and the message is controlled. ... Research is the search for and retrieval of existing, discovery or creation of new information or knowledge for a specific purpose. ... For the tax agency in the United Kingdom of the same name, see HM Revenue and Customs. ... For the album by the Kaiser Chiefs see Employment (album) Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... “Publisher” redirects here. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Overview

The Nielsen Company has corporate headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York City, USA. Nielsen is active in over 100 countries, and employs some 42,000 people worldwide. Total revenues amounted to EUR 3.5 billion in 2005. Coordinates: Country Netherlands Province North Holland Area (2006)  - Municipality 32. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

Mergers and Acquisitions: 2005 - 2006

On 17 November 2005, it called off a merger with U.S. health care data provider IMS Health after a shareholder rebellion to the proposed merger. VNU said the two companies decided to call off their merger after shareholders claiming to represent nearly 50% of VNU’s outstanding shares said they would not support the transaction under any circumstances. The merger, announced 11 July 2005, would have required approval from a majority of shareholders to be completed. 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... is the 192nd day of the year (193rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

CEO Rob van den Bergh resigned as a result of the termination of the merger. He had been one of the chief architects of the transformation of VNU from a Dutch advertising-driven publishing house to a global information and media company.

On March 8, 2006, two major shareholders led by Knight-Vinke rejected a friendly buyout from a consortium of private equity firms including Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.[1] only to accept a raised bid of 7.6B euros on May 22, 2006 or 8.7B euros with debt. The deal was notable for having required one of the biggest equity payments in history for a private equity deal with reports of ~3B euros in equity required. The Nielsen Company is now owned by Valcon Acquisitions.^[1] is the 67th day of the year (68th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Blackstone Group L.P. is a prominent private equity and investment management firm founded in 1985 by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman. ... Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (commonly referred to as KKR) is a New York City-based private equity firm that focuses primarily on late stage leveraged buyouts. ... is the 142nd day of the year (143rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Dave Calhoun has been announced the new Chairman and CEO of The Nielsen Company effective August 23, 2006. Calhoun comes from General Electric where he was Vice Chairman. Calhoun is reported to have received a $100 million compensation package. After his hire, the company announced they would lay off 10% of the workforce, later amended to 10-15%. Calhoun also brought in Mitchell J. Habib, notorious as one of the world's leading proponents of offshoring and transitions to inexpensive labor, as leader of the Global Business Services (GBS) division of Nielsen. is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the American company. ... Mitchell J. Habib serves as Executive Vice President, Global Business Services for The Nielsen Company. ...

The Nielsen Company sold its Business Publication Europe division to private equity firm 3i on December 18, 2006, but at the time said it was still negotiating about the sale of its activities in France. Company Name: 3i PLC Company Logo: Company Type: Public Founded: 1945 Created by a syndicate of several British banks]] Location: [London]], England| Key people: Philip Yea, CEO Baroness Hogg, Chairman Industry = Venture Capital and Private Equity Homepage = [1] 3i Group PLC is a venture capital and private equity firm quoted... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Corporate holdings

The Nielsen Company is the owner of numerous well-known companies and publications, including:

• ACNielsen, marketing research firm
• AGB Nielsen Media Research, television audience measurement firm, a joint venture with AGB Group
• Adweek weekly advertising industry publication
• Back Stage, entertainment-industry brand aimed at actors, performers and casting directors; includes weekly Back Stage East and Back Stage West trade publications, Ross Reports periodical, Actorfest tradeshows, Casting.BackStage.com website, etc.
• BASES, a Simulated Test Marketing (STM) firm
• Billboard, weekly music industry publication
• Brandweek weekly marketing industry publication
• Burrill Life Sciences Media Group, media and conference company directed towards life sciences
• Claritas, provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing services
• Clio Awards, Advertising and Design festival and award show
• Computing and IT Week, weekly newspapers for the UK computer industry
• Editor & Publisher, monthly newspaper industry trade journal
• The Hollywood Reporter, entertainment industry trade magazine
• Homescan & Spectra, provides consumer-centric marketing and sales solutions for the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry
• IMS, media planning and analysis software for industry and proprietary research
• Kirkus Reviews, weekly book review trade journal
• Hey! Nielsen, opinion engine and social network website for entertainment enthusiasts
• Mediaweek weekly media (Television, radio, print and outdoor advertising) industry publication
• Nielsen BookScan, offers Point-of-Sale (POS) data for the book industry
• Nielsen BDS, A system that monitors radio airplay based on music spins and audience impressions.
• Nielsen BuzzMetrics, measures consumer-generated Media (CGM) and word-of-mouth (WOM)
• NielsenConnect, integrates information and services from VNU companies, e.g. Nielsen In-store measurement
• Nielsen EDI, measurement, information and research solutions for the motion picture industry (e.g. box office results)
• Nielsen Media Research, producer of the Nielsen Ratings
• Nielsen//NetRatings, Internet audience measurement firm
• Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales and downloads
• Nielsen RingScan, a service of Nielsen Mobile which tracks ringtone sales
• Nielsen VideoScan, provides VHS and DVD sell-through Point-of-Sale (POS) data
• PERQ/HCI, tracking Healthcare journal performance and crucial competitive intelligence
• Personal Computer World, the UK's oldest computing magazine
• R&R, spinoff of Billboard, focusing on monitored radio airplay and the radio industry in general. The magazine is a merged combination of two former rivals: Radio & Records and Billboard Radio Monitor.
• Scarborough, research firm for consumer insights and media habits, a joint venture with Arbitron
• SRDS, leading provider of media rates and information services
• Tweakers.net, a large Dutch tech news website
• The Bookseller, a weekly book industry publication
• The Inquirer, Bleeding edge tech news site, often disputed due to sensitive information being disclosed.
• VNU Advisory Services, consists of BASES, Spectra, Claritas and HCI
• VNU Expositions, business-to-business tradeshows and educational conferences
• vnunet.com, Tech news, reviews and downloads website

ACNielsens Logo ACNielsen is an international marketing research firm, based in Schaumburg, Illinois. ... A joint venture (often abbreviated JV) is an entity formed between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together. ... Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication. ... Back Stage is a trade publication that covers the entertainment industry from the perspective of performers, the performance unions (SAG, Actors Equity Association, AFTRA, AGVA, AGMA, the American Federation of Musicians, AFTRA, etc. ... Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ... Brandweek is a weekly American marketing trade publication. ... The Clio Awards are given to reward creative excellence in advertising and design. ... Computing is a weekly newspaper/magazine published by VNU Business Publications for the United Kingdom computer industry. ... IT Week is a weekly newspaper for the UK computing industry, published by VNU Business Publications. ... E&P redirects here. ... The Hollywood Reporter is one of two major trade papers of the film industry in the United States, the other being Variety. ... Spectra are conditions or values that vary over a continuum. ... The initials IMS may refer to: Institute of Materials Science [1], The Institution belongs to the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) [2], Hanoi, Vietnam If-Modified-Since [3], a HTTP/1. ... Kirkus Reviews is an American book review company located at 770 Broadway in New York City. ... Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, better known as BDS, is a service that tracks monitored radio, television and internet airplay of songs based on the number of spins and detections. ... Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is a U.S. firm, headquartered in New York City, and operating primarily from Oldsmar, FL, which measures media audiences, including television, radio and newspapers. ... When TV viewers or entertainment professionals in the United States mention ratings they are often referring to Nielsen Ratings, a system developed by Nielsen Media Research to determine the audience size and composition of television programming. ... Nielsen//NetRatings is an Internet media and market research firm that conducts studies of Ad Relevance and Ad Intelligence, in addition to Internet Audience Measurement. ... Nielsen SoundScan is an information system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett that tracks sales data for singles, albums, and music video products in Canada and the United States for Billboard and other music industry companies. ... Nielsen RingScan is a weekly point-of-sale tracking service of ringtones and is offered by Nielsen Mobile, a division of a Nielsen Entertainment. ... The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company. ... Nielsen VideoScan is the partnership formed between the VNU-owned companies VideoScan and ACNielsen. ... Personal Computer World; new look issue from November 2005 Personal Computer World (usually referred to as PCW) is a long-running British Computer magazine, which was launched in 1978. ... R&R (aka The New Radio & Records) is a weekly music trade publication that follows the radio industry and tracks the monitoring of current songs by format, station and audience cumes. ... Radio and Records (R&R) is a weekly trade magazine that tracks radio airplay from the various genres including Pop, Country, R&B and many others. ... Billboard Radio Monitor is a weekly music trade publication that follows the radio industry and tracks the monitoring of current songs by format, station and audience cumes. ... A joint venture (often abbreviated JV) is an entity formed between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together. ... Arbitron is a radio audience research company in the United States. ... Tweakers. ... This article is about the British technology news website. ... VNU Group b. ...

Notes

External links

• The Nielsen Company website
• Nielsen Business Media
• vnunet.com website
• Claritas.com website